Iran, France welcome progress in bilateral ties

In the framework of the MoU signed during the visit of President Rouhani to France in February last year, the second meeting of political talks between Iran and France was held in Paris on Friday.

At the meeting chaired by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for American and European Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi and France’s Secretary General for Foreign Affairs Christian Masse, the two sides reviewed and examined progress made in cooperation between institutions and ministries of the two countries, on the basis of the road map to develop bilateral relations signed during President Rouhani’s trip to Paris.

Both sides evaluated as positive 150 percent rise in trade transactions between Iran and France during the past eight months and emphasized acceleration of cooperation in the energy, transportation, industry, health, medicine and agriculture.

In order to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries, they agreed to hold a joint economic commission meeting in Tehran in the near future.

In the second round of political dialogue, Iranian and French sides agreed to increase scientific and academic cooperation through the exchange of technical staff.

Following the meeting, the two sides discussed the regional issues including transatlantic relations, crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and the Upper Karabakh and exchanged views on regional issues due to the recent developments in the field of international relations.

They agreed to hold the next round of political talks in Tehran, in 2017.

In another meetng in Paris, Takht-Ravanchi met with Jean-Marc Ayrault, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Iranian side expressed satisfaction with the current trend of relations and cooperation between the two countries in various fields, especially in economy, and hoped for the improvement of banking and financial ties with France.

He asked the parties to pay serious attention to the implementation of all obligations under the terms of JCPOA.

Touching upon regional issues, Takht-Ravanchi also welcomed the recent developments in Lebanon, stressing the necessity of achieving a political solution to the Syrian crisis and ruling out any military solution to the crisis.

Recalling the dangers of terrorism in the region and Europe, Iranian deputy FM underlined the need for cooperation and dialogue in the fight against terrorism.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, for his part, stressing the need for the implementation of JCPOA, expressed hope for the acceleration of the implementation of the agreements and MoUs signed during President Rouhani’s visit to Paris.